Bridled nail-tail wallaby

Onychogalea fraenata

Blamed on foxes

IUCN status: Vulnerable

EPBC Predator Threat Rating: Very high

IUCN claim: “The species is threatened by introduced predators, the Red Fox and feral Cat especially”

Studies in support

Foxes hunted 3 of 30 reintroduced, predator-inexperienced wallabies (Hayward et al. 2012).

Studies not in support

Wallabies were last confirmed in the Western Division of NSW 10 years before, to 15 years after, foxes arrived (Current submission).

Is the threat claim evidence-based?

No studies were found evidencing a link between foxes and bridled nail-tail wallaby populations. It cannot be verified that extirpation occurred after fox arrival.

Evidence linking Onychogalea fraenata to foxes. A. Systematic review of evidence for an association between Onychogalea fraenata and foxes. Positive studies are in support of the hypothesis that foxes contribute to the decline of Onychogalea fraenata, negative studies are not in support. Predation studies include studies documenting hunting or scavenging; baiting studies are associations between poison baiting and threatened mammal abundance where information on predator abundance is not provided; population studies are associations between threatened mammal and predator abundance. B. Last records of extirpated populations relative to earliest local records of foxes. Error bars show minimum and maximum extinction intervals. Predator arrival records were digitized from Fairfax 2019. See methods section in [current submission] for details on evidence categories.
Evidence linking Onychogalea fraenata to foxes. A. Systematic review of evidence for an association between Onychogalea fraenata and foxes. Positive studies are in support of the hypothesis that foxes contribute to the decline of Onychogalea fraenata, negative studies are not in support. Predation studies include studies documenting hunting or scavenging; baiting studies are associations between poison baiting and threatened mammal abundance where information on predator abundance is not provided; population studies are associations between threatened mammal and predator abundance. B. Last records of extirpated populations relative to earliest local records of foxes. Error bars show minimum and maximum extinction intervals. Predator arrival records were digitized from Fairfax 2019. See methods section in [current submission] for details on evidence categories.

References

Current submission (2023) Scant evidence that introduced predators cause extinctions.

EPBC. (2015) Threat Abatement Plan for Predation by Feral Cats. Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999, Department of Environment, Government of Australia. (Table A1).

Fairfax, Dispersal of the introduced red fox (Vulpes vulpes) across Australia. Biol. Invasions 21, 1259-1268 (2019).

Hayward, M.W., L’Hotellier, F., O’Connor, T., Ward-Fear, G., Cathcart, J., Cathcart, T., Sephens, J., Stephens, J., Herman, K. and Legge, S., 2012, January. Reintroduction of bridled nailtail wallabies beyond fences at Scotia Sanctuary-Phase 1. In Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales (Vol. 134).

IUCN Red List. https://www.iucnredlist.org/ Accessed June 2023